Mississippi Gov. Barbour pardons nearly 200, including killers

JACKSON, Miss. — In his final days as Mississippi governor, Republican Haley Barbour gave pardons or early release to nearly 200 people, including more than two dozen whose crimes were listed as murder, manslaughter or homicide.

State records released Tuesday show some of the convicted killers were pardoned, while others were given medical or conditional releases. Barbour had released five other convicted killers in 2008. One of them had been granted a conditional release and was pardoned this time.

Relatives of crime victims had voiced outrage Monday after it was revealed that Barbour had pardoned four convicted murderers. Those men had worked at the Governor’s Mansion as part of a prison trusty program.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office released a complete list of pardons and other executive actions Tuesday, Barbour’ last day. He had served two terms and couldn’t run again due to term limits.

In addition to those convicted of manslaughter and murder, Barbour gave early release to people convicted of drug crimes, DUI deaths, burglary and kidnapping. Many of the people were already out of prison or otherwise free.

Among those getting full pardons was the brother of former NFL quarterback and Southern Miss standout Brett Favre. Earnest Scott Favre had his record cleared in the 1996 death of his best friend, Mark Haverty. Favre had driven in front of a train in Pass Christian while drunk, pleaded guilty in 1997, and was sentenced to a year of house arrest followed by two years’ probation.

On the way into the Mississippi House chamber for the inauguration of his successor, Republican Phil Bryant, Barbour had no comment when asked by The Associated Press about the pardons.

“It’s Phil Bryant’s day,” Barbour said in response to repeated questions from the AP about what he would say to the victims’ relatives.

On Monday, state officials revealed that Barbour had given pardons to five men and that they’d been released.

The former inmates are David Gatlin, convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife in 1993 as she held her baby and wounding her friend; Joseph Ozment, convicted in 1994 of killing a man during a robbery; Anthony McCray, convicted in 2001 of killing his wife; Charles Hooker, sentenced to life in 1992 for murder; and Nathan Kern, sentenced to life in 1982 for burglary after at least tw o prior convictions.

The list released Tuesday shows Barbour also granted a full pardon to Azikiwe Kambule, a South African man whose manslaughter conviction in a 1996 Mississippi carjacking and slaying drew international attention because he was a teenager when the crime was committed and prosecutors had originally sought the death penalty. In June 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal fro m Kambule, who wanted to withdraw his guilty plea.

Prosecutors said Kambule and Santonia Berry killed social worker Pamela McGill in Madison County on Jan. 25, 1996, because they wanted the Jackson woman’s red 1993 Dodge Stealth sports car. Her body was found nine weeks later when Berry led authorities to it. Defense lawyers said there was no evidence Kambule fired the shots that killed McGill.

Kambule argued in court documents that he knew nothing of the U.S. justice system when he entered into a deal in 1997 to plead guilty to charges in the death of McGill and to accept a 35-year sentence.

Kambule had come to Mississippi two years earlier, when his mother began studying psychology at Jackson State University. His mother and stepfather returned to South Africa several years ago after briefly living in Atlanta.

Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, a Madison County judge ruled Kambule’s sentence could not be harsher than that for Berry, the admitted triggerman. Berry received a life sentence without parole after pleading guilty to capital murder.

Kambule was sentenced to 30 years for armed carjacking and five years to being an accessory after a murder. He did not appeal the sentence.

In another case, Barbour gave conditional clemency to Karen Irby, a Jackson socialite who pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in a Feb. 11, 2009, wreck that killed two young physicians who were engaged to each other.

Irby admitted in court that she had two glasses of wine and was going faster than the speed limit when she drove her car into oncoming traffic in northeast Jackson. The Mercedes-Benz driven by Irby hit a pickup truck driven by Dr. Mark Pogue. His fiancee, Dr. Lisa Dedousis, was a passenger in Pogue’s truck. Both physicians were killed.

In March 2010, Irby, then 39, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter. In May 2010, she was sentenced to 18 years for each count, with the prison terms to run at the same time.

Barbour released Irby on the condition that she serve three years of house arrest and two years after that under Department of Corrections supervision.

Others benefiting from Barbour’s clemency powers were:

— Michael Graham, whose sentence Barbour suspended in 1998 and whom he pardoned Tuesday. Graham was convicted of shooting his ex-wife in 1989 in downtown Pascagoula with a shotgun at point-blank range.

— Clinton Jason Moffitt of Hickory Flat, who was convicted in June 2009 of conspiracy to commit voter fraud. Moffitt was among 16 people indicted on fraud charges stemming from the 2007 elections in Benton County. In July 2009, Moffitt was sentenced to five years in prison with two years to serve, two suspended and one under house arrest.

— Victor Collins, who was convicted of fatally beating his girlfriend, Peggy Campbell, in Marshall County in 1994 after Collins was released from jail on larceny charges Campbell had filed against him.

Perhaps the most unusual use of clemency powers during Barbour’s administration came in 2010, when he released two sisters on the condition that one donate a kidney to the other.

Jamie and Gladys Scott had served nearly 16 years of their life sentences for an armed robbery when they were released from a prison in central Mississippi on Jan. 7, 2011. Barbour granted Jamie Scott an early release because she suffers from kidney failure. He agreed to let Gladys Scott go because she came up with the idea of giving her sister a kidney.

Civil rights advocates claim the sisters, who are black, had been given overly harsh sentences.

Not long after their release, the sisters, who had moved to Pensacola, Fla., said the operation was on hold until one of them quit smoking and they could lose a combined 160 pounds.

The sisters’ attorney, Chokwe Lumumba, said Tuesday that one of the sisters has to lose more weight before doctors will perform the operation. Lumumba said he had asked Barbour for a full pardon, but did not get a response.

“There should be no impediments to it. They have been working. They are in school. They have been doing everything they are supposed to do,” Lumumba said.

The sisters were not pardoned, according to the list released Tuesday.

Barbour is a conservative who considered running for president in this year’s GOP primary, before deciding against it. Like many Republicans, Barbour has taken a tough stance on crime at times. But he also signed legislation in 2008 that made thousands of nonviolent inmates eligible to be considered for parole after serving a portion of their sentence. That legislation was aimed at easin g crowded conditions in the state’s prisons and saving money.

The men and women on death row have not benefited from the governor’s clemency power under Barbour. Nine men were executed during his time in office. He spared none on death row.